After 25 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Thailand around 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel and cleaned up a bit, then set out for the Grand Palace, the official residence of the kings of Thailand from the 18th century through 1946.
The buildings were amazing, with every surface covered intricate mosaics of mirrored glass and tile.
From there, it was off to Khao San Road, the so-called hub of backpackers in Southeast Asia. (I don't think I've ever seen so many body piercings.) After that, I must admit that we got lost and just wandered around for a bit...you don't realize how far you've strayed from the tourist district until you can pull out a map without a tuk-tuk driver approaching. Eventually we found our way back to the river and caught an express boat back to our hotel.
For dinner, we took the skytrain to Cabbages & Condoms, a restaurant where all the proceeds go to support the Populations and Community Development Association, a local family planning initiative.
Sunday, we spent most of the day at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, an enormous flea market where more than 6,000 vendors cover an area the size of five football fields. All of the guide books encouraged visitors to haggle, but after two or three attempts, we gave up. Everything was so inexpensive anyway, it just wasn't worth arguing over what would only amount to a dollar or two.
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